Yesterday, Sony announced an 84-inch TV with the resolution of four HDTVs put side by side – a bounty of over eight million pixels on a single TV display that has come to be known in the industry as “4K resolution.” Not to be outdone, today at IFA 2012 in Berlin Toshiba announced the Quad Full HD, an entire line of 4K televisions with screens up to 84 inches in size.

Last year’s IFA saw the introduction of the 55-inch 55ZL2 display from Toshiba, the company’s first 4K television display. By maintaining the same resolution but increasing display size, the new TVs have a slightly lower pixel-per-inch density, but make up for it with proprietary image manipulation algorithms that take care of enhancing picture quality.

The TVs will support USB, allowing users to see stunning, nearly pixel-by-pixel renderings of pictures taken by digital cameras, and native content via HDMI. The software bundled with the device can scale up the resolution of Blu-ray movies and use proprietary algorithms to increase the sharpness, detail and depth of what appears on-screen.

Compared to a regular Full HD TV of the same size, the optimal viewing distance for a QFHD display is reduced by half, making it practical to view the full quality of ultra-high resolution images from inside the home.

The televisions will also support passive 3D – the kind you see in movie theaters, as opposed to the more expensive (and cumbersome) active 3D glasses, which need to be powered by a battery. Toshiba’s 4K line will deliver a staggering 1080 lines of pixels to each eye, which should make for an interesting viewing experience.

The Quad Full HD (4K) range will be available in Europe during the first half of 2013. Based on pricing of similar devices – Sony’s costs about US$30,000 – this won’t exactly be the TV for the rest of us. But, on the plus side, it’ll likely be much more wallet-friendly than Panasonic’s 32 million-pixel plasma screen.

Dario studied software engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin. When he isn't writing for Gizmag he is usually traveling the world on a whim, working on an AI-guided automated trading system, or chasing his dream to become the next European thumbwrestling champion. All articles by Dario Borghino